Leviticus 6:23

For every meat offering for the priest shall be wholly burnt: it shall not be eaten.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(23) For every meat offering for the priest.—Better, and every meat offering of a priest This rule applies to every meat offering brought by the priests themselves for the same reason.

Benson Commentary

Leviticus 6:23. It shall not be eaten — No part of it shall be eaten by the priest, as it was when the offering was for the people. The reason of the difference is, partly because when he offered it for the people, he was to have some recompense for his pains; partly to signify the imperfection of the Levitical priests, who could not bear their own iniquity; for the priest’s eating part of the people’s sacrifice did signify his typical bearing of the people’s iniquity; and partly to teach the priests and ministers of God, that it is their duty to serve God with singleness of heart, and to be content with God’s honour, though they have no present advantage by it.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

6:14-23 The law of the burnt-offerings put upon the priests a great deal of care and work; the flesh was wholly burnt, and the priests had nothing but the skin. But most of the meat-offering was their own. It is God's will that his ministers should be provided with what is needful.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Not be eaten - Compare Leviticus 6:30; Leviticus 4:12 note.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Le 6:21-30. The Law of the Sin Offering.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No part of it shall be eaten by the priest, as it was when the offering was for the people. The reason of the difference is, partly, because when he offered it for the people, he was to have some recompence for his pains, which he could not expect when he offered it for himself; partly, to signify the imperfection of the Levitical priests, who could not bear their own iniquity; for the priest’s eating part of the people’s sacrifices did signify his typical bearing of the people’s iniquity, as appears from Leviticus 10:17; and partly, to teach the priests and ministers of God, that it is their duty to serve God with singleness of heart, and to be content with God’s honour, though they have no present advantage by it.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For every meat offering for the priest shall be wholly burnt,.... Wherefore the priest that offered this for the high priest got nothing by it: he served him gratis:

it shall not be eaten; neither by himself, nor any other priest. The priests by eating the offerings of the people bore their iniquities, and made atonement for them, Leviticus 10:17 but the priests might not eat their own sacrifices, to show that they could not bear their own sins, and make atonement for them; and this proves the insufficiency of the legal sacrifices, and the need there was for one to arise of another order to take away sin; and it is thought by some to be typical of the active obedience of Christ (w), every day yielded to the law and will of God, and is perfect, as the word here signifies, and to be distinguished from "a burnt offering".

(w) Vid. Michaelis Observ. Sacr. Exercitat. 6. p. 57. & Mede in ib. p. 58.

Geneva Study Bible

For every meat offering for the priest shall be wholly burnt: it shall not be eaten.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Leviticus 6:23

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The Meat-Offering of the Priests is introduced, as a new law, with a special formula, and is inserted here in its proper place in the sacrificial instructions given for the priests, as it would have been altogether out of place among the general laws for the laity. In "the day of his anointing" (המּשׁח, construed as a passive with the accusative as in Genesis 4:18), Aaron and his sons were to offer a corban as "a perpetual meat-offering" (minchah, in the absolute instead of the construct state: cf. Exodus 29:42; Numbers 28:6; see Ges. 116, 6, Note b); and this was to be done in all future time by "the priest who was anointed of his sons in his stead," that is to say, by every high priest at the time of his consecration. "In the day of his anointing:" when the anointing was finished, the seven were designated as "the day," like the seven days of creation in Genesis 2:4. This minchah was not offered during the seven days of the anointing itself, but after the consecration was finished, i.e., in all probability, as the Jewish tradition assumes, at the beginning of the eighth day, when the high priest entered upon his office, viz., along with the daily morning sacrifices (Exodus 29:38-39), and before the offering described in Leviticus 9. It then continued to be offered, as "a perpetual minchah," every morning and evening during the whole term of his office, according to the testimony of the book of Wis. (45:14, where we cannot suppose the daily burnt-offering to be intended) and also of Josephus (Ant. 3:10, 7).

(Note: Vid., Lundius, jd. Heiligthmer, B. 3, c 9, 17 and 19; Thalhofer ut supra, p. 139; and Delitzsch on the Epistle to the Hebrews. The text evidently enjoins the offering of this minchah upon Aaron alone; for though Aaron and his sons are mentioned in Leviticus 6:13, as they were consecrated together, in Leviticus 6:15 the priest anointed of his sons in Aaron's stead, i.e., the successor of Aaron in the high-priesthood, is commanded to offer it. Consequently the view maintained by Maimonides, Abarbanel, and others, which did not become general even among the Rabbins, viz., that every ordinary priest was required to offer this meat-offering when entering upon his office, has no solid foundation in the law (see Selden de success. in pontif. ii. c. 9; L' Empereur ad Middoth 1, 4, Not. 8; and Thalhofer, p. 150).)

It was to consist of the tenth of an ephah of fine flour, one half of which was to be presented in the morning, the other in the evening; - not as flour, however, but made in a pan with oil, "roasted" and פּתּים מנחת ני תּפי ("broken pieces of a minchah of crumbs"), i.e., in broken pieces, like a minchah composed of crumbs. מרבּכת (Leviticus 6:14 and 1 Chronicles 23:29) is no doubt synonymous with מרבּכת סלת, and to be understood as denoting fine flour sufficiently burned or roasted in oil; the meaning mixed or mingled does not harmonise with Leviticus 7:12, where the mixing or kneading with oil is expressed by בּשּׁמן בּלוּלת. The hapax legomenon תּפיני signifies either broken or baked, according as we suppose the word to be derived from the Arabic 'afana diminuit, or, as Gesenius and the Rabbins do, from אפה to bake, a point which can hardly be decided with certainty. This minchah, which was also instituted as a perpetual ordinance, was to be burnt entirely upon the altar, like every meat-offering presented by a priest, because it belonged to the category of the burnt-offerings, and of these meat-offerings the offerer himself had no share (Leviticus 2:3, Leviticus 2:10). Origen observes in his homil. iv. in Levit.: In caeteris quidem praeceptis pontifex in offerendis sacrificiis populo praebet officium, in hoc vero mandato quae propria sunt curat et quod ad se spectat exequitur. It is also to be observed that the high priest was to offer only a bloodless minchah for himself, and not a bleeding sacrifice, which would have pointed to expiation. As the sanctified of the Lord, he was to draw near to the Lord every day with a sacrificial gift, which shadowed forth the fruits of sanctification.